Madrid

I met the Wave Pictures in 2006 at the Walthamstow Festival. Didn’t I? I saw Franic down Brick Lane putting Wave Pictures posters up. I thought ‘that rings a bell’.

Hang on, no, I met Dave Tattersall a year earlier than that. He came to a gig that just me and Amos did in Glasgow. I remember him telling me I was a bit rude because I was more interested in talking to John from the Yummy Fur and the 1990’s. Dave had been sending me Wave Pictures CDs for a few years before that even. I remember not linking them at first. It’s rare that any of would give something a second listen, but Dave’s charm is a forceful thing you can’t say no to the guy. I started to like him and the Wave Pictures. He sent me an email telling me how he’d split up from his girl. It was self-pitying or fanny, just honest and matter of fact. I thought it an odd thing to do, but I replied and Dave has since told me it was odd that I replied. It feels to me that the first time I met the Wave Pictures was in Walthamstow. I spoke to them a while. They had moved to London. My wife said I was showing off in front of them, trying to look like the big man. They hung around the Duke of Uke, which is where I hang too. I had a tour to do in Spain and Sweden and because they were Hefner fans I thought I could get them to be my band for cheap.

They said, yes. The tour certainly had its ups and downs. Hard drives, some sparse gigs. They made me feel old, with their energy and optimism. One night I was watching their set and I realised that they were really, really good. In Barcelona some shit happened and the WPs got screwed around, I realised whilst shouting at the promoter that I cared about the Wave Pictures and they were my friends. This show was recorded by the desk engineer on the Madrid show of that tour, a happy accident. It has its faults, that’s why its cheap.